 In the summer of 2015, lawmakers in St. Louis passed a city ordinance that would have gradually raised the minimum wage to $11 by January 2018. That meant 38,000 workers in the city would have seen their wages rise, and those who stood to benefit most were women and people of color. But this local law was essentially derailed by conservative state lawmakers. That same summer, the Missouri legislature passed a law blocking all local governments from passing further minimum wage increases. Then in 2017, state lawmakers passed a second bill that retroactively nullified the St. Louis measure. That meant dropping the city's minimum wage from $10 to $770. This situation, where a higher level of government passes a law blocking a lower level of government's laws, is called preemption, because one law preempts the other one. It happens frequently between different levels of government, and often it's innocuous or even beneficial. For example, the federal minimum wage sets a floor for state and local minimum wages. But increasingly, preemption is being abused by state lawmakers and corporate interests to set ceilings and to block progress at the local level, especially progress that helps lift economically disadvantaged workers. Preemption is used to stifle progress across issue areas, including gun control, environmental regulations like plastic bag bans, and public health measures like smoking bans or during the pandemic mask mandates. The common thread is protecting corporate interests and preventing policies that would help workers, consumers, and communities. When it comes to workers' rights, preemption is especially common in the South and Midwest. These states have a history of racist actions and policies, and when preemption is abused, it prevents localities from enacting policies that address the still present legacies of inequality and exploitation. Let's take a closer look at the state legislatures in the South and Midwest that are passing these preemption laws. They're majority white, majority men, and mostly Republican controlled. The policies being preempted, such as the minimum wage increase in Missouri, paid sick leave mandates, and fair scheduling requirements would particularly improve economic conditions for black workers, other workers of color, women, and immigrants. So by preempting those laws, state lawmakers are directly harming these communities. What can be done? Local communities, advocates, and lawmakers can push back on a harmful preemption, whether it's forming coalitions to advocate for rolling back, weakening, or preventing such laws, or having local governments via lawsuits to challenge the state-level preemption. We need to do everything we can to support workers and advance economic justice. It's time to stop preempting progress.